With its quirky styling and low prices, the Citroen C4 Cactus stands out from the crowd

Citroen has a
long history of building cars that are both quirky and appealing. The
new C4 Cactus has been designed to continue that trend, with a
simplicity to its design and build that makes it lighter and cheaper
than rival hatchbacks.

Space

Room for four, but boot is small

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The boot of the C4 Cactus is the same size as the NissanJuke's, so
there are plenty of cars that offer more space. What's more, there's a
large step down to the boot floor, which makes lifting in heavy items awkward.

In addition, the rear seats only fold down in one piece, rather than
splitting in two to let you carry longer items and a single rear
passenger at the same time. And even when they're folded, they don’t
lie completely flat.

Meanwhile, two large adults up front might find themselves rubbing
elbows occasionally, but at least there's enough leg and headroom up
here. In the back, though, shoulder room is at a premium, as is
headroom if you specify the optional panoramic sunroof.

Throw in pop-out (rather than wind-down) rear windows and the back
of the Cactus can make you feel a bit claustrophobic.

At least an array of cubby holes and a large glovebox provide more
than enough storage for everyday items. The rear seats especially
benefit from huge storage areas in the rear doors - a bonus for
stowing kid-related paraphernalia

Comfort

The suspension fitted to the C4 Cactus is reasonably soft, so
providing you choose a model fitted with 15in or 16in wheels you get a
smooth drive over uneven surfaces and a composed ride around town.

Whichever model you choose, you also get extremely comfortable seats
that support you in all the right places.

Avoid the 17in wheels, though, because the stiffer tyres they come
with make the ride more jittery, and cause the C4 Cactus to crash
unpleasantly through larger ruts and bumps.

They also transmit quite a bit of road noise back into the car.
Engine noise is an issue, too, whether you choose a petrol or a diesel.

The driving position isn’t as adjustable as we’d like, either. In
particular, the steering wheel adjusts for height but not reach, so
while you sit reasonably high, giving you a good view of the road
ahead, some people will feel like they're stretching to reach the wheel.

Dashboard layout

All versions of the Citroen C4 Cactus come with a digital speedo and
a large touchscreen display, which combine to make the dashboard look
smart and modern.

They also feature some quirky styling touches inspired by designer
luggage, such as the leather-effect straps you grab to close the door,
which are echoed on top of the glovebox.

However, by placing as many functions on to the touchscreen as
possible, Citroen has removed some of the ease of use. For example,
there are no physical switches for the heater, so to change the
temperature in the car you have to go through the onscreen menus,
something that soon becomes tiresome.

The plastics that the dashboard is made from feel rather cheap, too,
which is a pity because they detract from what is otherwise a
refreshingly different driving environment.

Easy to drive

Light controls and good visibility

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The Citroen C4 Cactus is very easy to manoeuvre, thanks to steering
that gets lighter at low speed, and very good all-round visibility,
while its squared-off rear also helps when reversing; you'll have no
problem judging where the back of the car is.

If you're still not confident enough, though, the top-of-the-range
Flair model also gets rear parking sensors and a colour rear-view
camera as standard.

The only downside is that the front end of the Cactus curves down
away from you, making it hard to judge where it ends. And if you want
front parking sensors to help mitigate that, you can only get them as
part of a fairly expensive option pack.

Fun to drive

Focus on comfort, not thrills

Photo: Max Earey

Take the C4 Cactus out of town and you’ll find that it isn’t as much
fun to drive as it is to look at. The 1.6-litre diesels and
lower-powered 1.2-litre petrol (badged '82') all run out of puff quite
quickly, so you need to change gear a lot. The more powerful 1.2-litre
petrol engine (badged '110') is more rewarding, though.

Neither the manual nor automatic gearbox is brilliant, the former
having a long, rubbery action and the latter prone to causing jerky progress.

While the Cactus turns into a corner well enough, its steering is
too slow, and the way the body leans in the corners can make it feel
slightly out of its depth on twisty roads. So you tend to drive at a
more relaxed pace, enjoying the way it soaks up the bumps rather than
any thrills.

Reliability

Citroen’s customer satisfaction record isn’t great

The C4 Cactus is too new to have been included in the JD Power
customer satisfaction survey. However, Citroen’s record isn’t great;
it finished 22nd out of 27 manufacturers in 2014. On the plus side,
the fact that the C4 Cactus doesn’t weigh as much as its rivals means
that many of the parts will receive less wear and tear and should
therefore last longer.

All Citroens come with a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty, matching
that offered by Nissan for its Juke, but bettered by the Vauxhall Mokka’s
100,000-mile, unlimited-period warranty.

Fuel economy

All models are very frugal

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Perhaps the biggest benefit of the Cactus's low weight is that it
results in excellent fuel economy and very low CO2 emissions. The
1.6-litre Blue HDi diesel is particularly efficient, emitting just
87g/km of CO2 and averaging more than 80mpg in official EU tests.

The petrol engines are also impressive when it comes to efficiency,
with even the most powerful, 109bhp version emitting just 107g/km of
CO2 and returning 60mpg in EU tests.

Affordability

Low prices and cheap to tax

Despite us complaining about the lack of features such as fully
opening rear windows and split-folding seats, there’s no denying that
such cost-saving measures have helped to make the C4 Cactus cheap to
buy compared with its rivals.

Note too its clever Airbump body panels, which are designed to
protect the bodywork from minor damage, such as the kind of scrapes
and dents that happen in car parks, thus potentially helping to reduce
repair costs.

Safety

The C4 Cactus is yet to be crash tested by safety body Euro NCAP, but
Citroens tend to perform well in this area so there’s no reason to
think the Cactus would be any different

All models come complete with six airbags, including the world’s
first roof-mounted passenger airbag (relocating it from the dash helps
to free up space for the glovebox), and electronic stability control
as standard, which can help you regain control of the car if it skids.

Standard spec

Three specification levels are available, called Touch, Feel and
Flair. All come with the touchscreen, a DAB digital radio, a USB
socket that lets you connect up your iPod, and cruise control.

However, you have to upgrade to Feel to get air conditioning, a
leather steering wheel, a Bluetooth hands-free phone connection and
smarter interior trim, including gloss black accents and body coloured
door handles.

It hasn’t escaped Citroen’s notice that personalisation is a great
way to attract buyers in today’s market. So for the C4 Cactus you can
choose from 10 different paint colours, four contrasting Airbump
colours, five different seat fabrics and three different colour
schemes for the dashboard and interior trim.

Our favourite version

e-THP 110 Feel, list price
£15,790

Options you should add

Metallic paint (£495)

The verdict7The verdict

The verdict

The Citroen C4 Cactus looks unique, has a comfortable ride and is impressively affordable to buy, run and insure. There are some signs of cost-cutting, though, and if it’s driving thrills you’re after, this isn’t the car for you.